Disease-free Production of Sugarcane Varieties (Saccharum officinarum L.) Using in vitro Meristem Culture

The aim of present study is to find-out the meristem size of sugarcane varieties related to disease-free with a high recovery percentage. In vitro plantlets of four sugarcane varieties, Khonkan1, K97-29, KPS94-13 and K84-200, were cultured on modified-MS media. Meristem-tips were excised under stereomicroscope in different sizes, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mm and cultured on modified-MS media under darkness. The meristem tips (0.5-1.5 mm) in all varieties were eliminated from bacteria and fungi, except those tips of K97-29 in size 1.0 and 1.5 mm showed 1.65 and 2.5% bacteria contamination. Recovery percentages were positively related to meristem size of K97-29 (R2 = 0.60), KPS94-13 (R2 = 0.77) and K84-200 (R2 = 74) varieties, but Khonkan1 variety dose not correlated (R2 = 0.23). In the largest size, the recovery percentages of KPS94-13 and K84-200 varieties were higher than those of Khonkan1 and K97-29 varieties for 2 folds. It should be concluded that the sizes of sugarcane meristem tips and varieties would play a key role on the disease-free production.